Nature's Angel

"Nature's Angel"  That's what I think of when I see a butterfly and it's the perfect name for this piece I finished creating yesterday.

How I created this piece:
I created this piece by first using a jeweler's saw to carve out the butterfly from a sheet of 24 gauge sterling silver.  I textured the copper with a rolling mill and then shaped the circle back plate and the bail from a piece of 22 gauge sterling silver.  I took this piece to the soldering torch a total of 4 times so the planning had to be just right.  I soldered the bezel cups last and after all the polishing was done, I set two genuine Opals, two genuine Carnelians, and four genuine turquoise stones.  To create the necklace I used Lampwork beads, Sunstone, Swarovski crystals and sterling silver chain.

How to Recover from a BIG Ooopppss!!

(If you read my previous blog from Saturday, September 8th, the following story will sound familiar) I created a bezel in a specific size for a particular stone that I wanted to make into a ring.  I created the ring shank and soldered it to the bezel.  While checking how the stone would sit in the bezel my fingers fumbled and oh no!!  The beautiful stone hit my tile floor and broke.  I promptly sat my rear on the floor and tried to convince myself it wasn't the end of the world.  My fellow silversmiths will relate to the fact that unless you cut the stones yourself or the bezel was made to an exact standard measurement (such as 10mmx8mm), it is almost impossible to find a stone to fit into a custom sized bezel.

Over the last couple of weeks I have glanced at this beautiful ring with no stone wondering what could I do and then it hit me "Jeweler's Ice Resin!!"  I could put something in the bezel and fill it with resin.  And of course since I love the sea shells I have collected and made things with, it only seemed natural to use some of those.  So I put in freshwater pearls and added a small but unusual sea shell to the top and everything is held in place with wonderful ice resin.

The picture below is the end result and I have to admit I love it!  It is definitely a ring that will get attention because not only is it pretty but it is sooooo unique.

A Photographer is Reborn

Years ago my hubby Jim was a "professional-wanna-be" photographer and not only did he enjoy it, but he was actually very good at it.  Of course this was in the pre-digital camera days.  I think he lost interest when 35mm film went out of style, all you had to do was buy a point-n-shoot, and your pictures were kept on a memory stick rather than a roll of film (for those of you younger than 40, you probably have no idea what film looks like or what I'm talking about but that's ok....you won't be penalized :)

When I first started making jewelry I needed pictures of each piece.  Can't afford to hire a professional photographer and why should I?  I'm married to one even if it is albeit amateur.  At first he really seemed to enjoy taking the pictures until he kept hearing from me "that's too blurry, that's too yellow, the angle is wrong, the background is too busy....blah blah blah.  Heaven help me, I even recently threatened to take the pictures myself but I think that threat was the push point I needed.

He did a little internet research (how did we survive before it??) some simple PVC pipe, some fish line, a simple box made from simple material and a couple of inexpensive lights from Home Depot and VIOLA!!!  My photographer has been reborn!!

I couldn't be more excited!  Not only do I NOT have to take over taking the photos (which we all know would have turned out so incredibly bad), but the photos he is taking are AMAZING!  My Jim is able to create photos that truly portray my work & pieces.  If you are interested in seeing the difference, just go to my website www.uniquetreasuresbydebbie.com and then compare those to what I copied below.

Clutsy or Proficient - what was today?

I was so excited that I was going to get a whole day in my studio.  I even gave up a bicycle ride with Jim for this.  I got my cup of coffee and turned on the lights at 6:00 am....and I mean the lights in my studio, not the bedside light.

The first thing I started on was enlarging a ring I had made.  Jim really liked the stone and the ring was manly and said he would wear it (Yea!  my first "man" jewelry piece!!)  The ring only needed to be enlarged a little bit so I wasn't worried about the stone which is actually a beautiful piece of Dichroic glass.  So I started happily pounding away, checking the size, pounding some more and OOOPPSS!!  The center portion of the glass started coming apart.  No duhhhhh.  Hammer + glass.  What WAS I thinking?  I have an idea on how to save this and get it large enough for Jim but I won't go into that now.  Stay tuned for the final chapter of that.

Next project.  I had made a beautiful pendant frame from Fine silver clay in the shape of a specific stone.  I had all the soldering done and the stone was going to be suspended in the frame.  As I am working the final steps what do I do?  I DROP the stone!!  As it fell to the floor in slow motion I found myself yelling "Don't break!  Don't break!"  And then as I heard the definite breaking sound I was then yelling "Why do I have ceramic tile floor???!"

A little choice words and a few deep breaths later I start thinking how can I salvage this beautiful frame.  I can't change the shape and I have a better chance of winning the power ball than I would finding another stone that shape.  Ah ha!!  I have some tiny perfect sea shells so I laid them out and decided I would solder a sterling back plate, insert the shells, and fill with sea blue ice resin.  BUT, I needed to get the frame to lay flat on the back plate for the solder to hold.  As I am hammering away, I break a piece of the frame.  Uggg....will this "breaking stuff" ever end??  Since I never throw anything away, I put the broken frame on my project bench and walked away.  Who knows when I will come back to that.

Hummmmm....is there a pattern here.  Maybe Debbie should stay away from hammers but Q: "How do you create jewelry without hammers?  A:  You don't!  This is Friday but it's not the 13th.  What is going on??

I did manage to finish a bracelet and a pair of earrings but I have to say, I am not as happy with the bracelet as I thought I would be.  I made it from Fine Silver clay and each disk has a dolphin on the front.  Sounds pretty but I put too much texture behind the dolphin so he doesn't stand out like I thought he would. So the end of this day's story is it was CLUTSY!!

Till next time.....

Blue Moon Inspiration

My hubby took some amazing pics of the recent Blue Moon.  Now my mind is whirling around on how I can try to recreate this amazing art of nature in a piece of jewelry.  Bronze & copper clay??  Polymer clay??  If I decide to attempt such a feat, I will definitely create a video as I work through the piece.  Only the future knows.....